{"title":"David Brooks","description":"\u003cp\u003eDavid Brooks offers a thoughtful exploration of contemporary life, weaving insights from \u003cem\u003epolitics and current affairs\u003c\/em\u003e with profound reflections on character and personal growth. His works invite readers to consider the deeper dimensions of society and the individual’s place within it, blending engaging narrative with philosophical inquiry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSpanning genres from \u003cstrong\u003ebiography and memoir\u003c\/strong\u003e to \u003cem\u003eself-help and education\u003c\/em\u003e, Brooks’ books illuminate the complex interplay between cultural forces and personal development. Readers can expect writing that challenges, inspires, and encourages a richer understanding of both the world and themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-second-mountain","title":"The Second Mountain","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Second Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e, David Brooks delves into the profound journey of personal transformation that challenges the mainstream definition of success and fulfillment. Brooks begins by questioning the widespread pursuit of self-interest, encapsulating the quest for money, power, and fame that defines the first mountain of our lives. However, as we climb this mountain and reach its summit, we may find that the view we once aspired to enjoy now feels hollow and unfulfilling. This is where the ascent of the second mountain begins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe second mountain represents a new stage of life where the focus shifts from individual achievement to deeper, more meaningful values. Brooks explores what it means to elevate our desires beyond mere consumption, striving instead for a life rich in moral cause and emotional depth. This shift involves moving away from the emphasis on independence and autonomy, and towards a recognition of our interdependence within a fabric of warm, supportive relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe essence of \u003cem\u003eThe Second Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e is about yearning for intimacy, devotion, responsibility, and commitment — values that often stand in contrast to the solitary pursuit of personal freedom. Brooks identifies four primary commitments that guide us towards this higher ground: family, vocation, philosophy, and community. Through a series of inspiring stories and reflective insights, the book encourages readers to embrace these commitments as pathways to a more joyful and rewarding life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBrooks's narrative is both personal and universal, drawing from his own life experiences as well as the stories of others who have made the transition from the first to the second mountain. He argues that true happiness and fulfilment come not from external achievements but from internal transformation and meaningful connections with others. By exploring our relationships and roles within the community, Brooks makes a compelling case for the importance of service, selflessness, and love in achieving a life of profound satisfaction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspiring and thought-provoking, \u003cem\u003eThe Second Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e is an invitation to all who feel disenchanted by the conventional metrics of success. It is a call to pursue a deeper, more purposeful existence, where personal growth is intertwined with the well-being of others. David Brooks's eloquent prose and insightful observations will resonate with anyone seeking to embark on a richer, more fulfilling life journey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45693267869932,"sku":"9780141990903","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780141990903_04fd022b-0f45-4257-a42f-2a88067bf936.jpg?v=1742024557"},{"product_id":"how-to-know-a-person","title":"How To Know a Person","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA practical, heartfelt guide to the art of truly knowing another person in order to foster deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives—from the #1 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Road to Character\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Second Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you are going to care for someone, you must first understand them. If you're going to hire, marry, or befriend someone, you have to be able to see them. If you are going to work closely with someone, you have to be able to make them feel recognised and valued. As David Brooks observes, \"The older I get, the more I come to the certainty that there is one skill at the centre of any healthy family, company, classroom, community or nation—the ability to see each other, to know other people, to make them feel valued, heard and understood.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yet we humans don't do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In \u003cem\u003eHow to Know a Person\u003c\/em\u003e, Brooks sets out to help us to do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us. If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person's story should you pay attention to?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDriven by his trademark sense of curiosity, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, and from the worlds of theatre, history, and education, to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. \u003cem\u003eHow to Know a Person\u003c\/em\u003e helps readers become more understanding and considerate towards others; it helps readers find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way, it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is a profoundly creative act. How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? \u003cem\u003eHow to Know a Person\u003c\/em\u003e is for anyone searching for connection, seeking to understand, and yearning to be understood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45745464279276,"sku":"9780241670293","price":60.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780241670293_fb65f14a-001d-4884-ad6c-5492ddc38e5e.jpg?v=1742024139"},{"product_id":"the-road-to-character-by-david-brooks-9780141980362","title":"The Road to Character","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe No. 1 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestseller on the secret to leading a good life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe live in a Big Me culture: universities and businesses alike reward goal-oriented superstars, and those who self-promote are most likely to thrive. But what does this say about us?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Brooks argues that our hunger for wealth and status is eroding our ability to create meaningful inner lives. To show us how to live better, he looks at people whose sense of humility was fundamental to their success. What they all understood was a simple but counterintuitive truth: in order to fulfil yourself, you must learn how to forget yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House Distribution","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46266002211052,"sku":"9780141980362","price":22.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780141980362.jpg?v=1742023897"},{"product_id":"the-other-side-of-daylight-by-david-brooks-9780702268281","title":"The Other Side of Daylight","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA stunning new work of poetry combined with a selection of the best of David Brooks' award-winning career.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA bottle of Romanee-Conti sells for $785,000, while bodies are dug by hand from earthquake rubble in Indonesia because the local government couldn't afford the earthmoving equipment to do so while people were still alive. Elephants are shot and skinned by poachers, and remote Indigenous communities are shut down for want of infrastructural funding. And with tenderness and humility, a simple gift of peanuts to magpies, sheep, and a tentative rat reframes the place of the human in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Brooks's longstanding concerns for justice and the relationship between human and non-human animals infuse and enliven his work. Wise, lyrical, and timely, \u003cem\u003eThe Other Side of Daylight\u003c\/em\u003e distils a long and honoured poetry career with a marvellous selection from his five previous volumes and \u003cem\u003eThe Peanut Vendor\u003c\/em\u003e, a collection of forty-eight luminous new poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46266002276588,"sku":"9780702268281","price":29.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780702268281.jpg?v=1742023901"},{"product_id":"how-to-know-a-person-by-david-brooks-9781802064308","title":"How To Know a Person","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe number one bestselling guide to fostering deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you are going to care for someone, you must first understand them. If you're going to hire, marry, or befriend someone, you have to be able to see them. If you are going to work closely with someone, you have to be able to make them feel recognised and valued. As David Brooks observes, \"The older I get, the more I come to the certainty that there is one skill at the centre of any healthy family, company, classroom, community or nation— the ability to see each other, to know other people, to make them feel valued, heard and understood.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yet, we humans don't do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In \u003cem\u003eHow to Know a Person\u003c\/em\u003e, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us. Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, and from the worlds of theatre, history, and education, to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. \u003cem\u003eHow to Know a Person\u003c\/em\u003e helps readers become more understanding and considerate towards others; it helps readers find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way, it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is a profoundly creative act—How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? \u003cem\u003eHow to Know a Person\u003c\/em\u003e is for anyone searching for connection, seeking to understand, and yearning to be understood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46266004799724,"sku":"9781802064308","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781802064308.jpg?v=1742024163"},{"product_id":"napoleons-roads-by-david-brooks-9780702253911","title":"Napoleon's Roads","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'What are the crimes of love, anyway, but fragments of passion broken from their moorings, evidence of a kind of shipwreck? (But what kind of ship? Where was it? What was its name?) Or crows, a flock of them, high in the air, fighting against a wind that no-one can see.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Brooks' mastery of the written word is both evocative and compelling in this, his fourth collection of stories and his first in almost twenty years. These pieces capture unforgettable images of streetscapes and heartscapes, grappling with concepts of time and memory, tenderness, morality, creativity and solitude.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eProfound and illuminating, \u003cem\u003eNapoleon's Roads\u003c\/em\u003e is a celebration of the rich possibility of language and expression from one of the finest poets and prose stylists in contemporary Australian literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46671060271340,"sku":"9780702253911","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/183093482438.jpg?v=1752798685"},{"product_id":"the-conversation-by-david-brooks-9780702249952","title":"The Conversation","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA young woman and an older man meet by accident—a gust of wind—at a restaurant in Trieste and find themselves dining together. They embark upon a conversation of the kind that can perhaps only happen between total strangers—risky, philosophical, full of the most intimate stories and confessions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShe has questions. He finds, as the wine flows, delicious dishes come and go, and the velvet night deepens, that he doesn't have as many answers as he might have thought he had.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Conversation\u003c\/em\u003e is a remarkable exploration of human connection, beautifully capturing the complexity and spontaneity of such encounters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46671843655916,"sku":"9780702249952","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/143503482438.jpg?v=1752826454"},{"product_id":"the-umbrella-club-by-david-brooks-9780702237232","title":"The Umbrella Club","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring World War I, a friendship is forged on the battlefields of France between Axel and Edward, two young Englishmen. There, inspired by barrage balloons, they develop a mutual fascination that will change the course of their lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the war, as Axel's passion for flight and freedom consumes him, he sets off to balloon across the highlands of New Albion, a largely unexplored island north of Australia. When he fails to return, Edward travels to the island to solve the mystery of his friend's disappearance and retrace his final journey. What he finds there will haunt him for the rest of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Umbrella Club\u003c\/em\u003e is a darkly compelling adventure into the depths of the human soul and to the frontiers of colonial exploration. In the aftermath of war, when there is nothing left to fear, sometimes the only possibility for recovery is flight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46672433545452,"sku":"9780702237232","price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/16303482438.jpg?v=1752848075"},{"product_id":"ad-hope-by-david-brooks-9780994429636","title":"A.D. Hope","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA.D. (Alec) Hope (1907-2000) was one of the most significant Australian poets of the twentieth century: satirist, scholar, master at once of erotic verse and of the discursive mode. He was the author of poems such as \u003cem\u003eAustralia\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Death of the Bird\u003c\/em\u003e that, along with the works of Patrick White, Judith Wright, and Manning Clarke, scripted Australian thought for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Brooks, forty-six years his junior, first met Hope when, as a student, the ANU asked him to photograph the poet for a building they'd just named after him. A friendship formed that lasted twenty-five years, saw Brooks become Hope's editor, and eventually give the poet's eulogy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePenetrating, surprising, and supported by an intimate knowledge both of the poetry and of the man himself, this memoir of their relationship is a must for readers of \u003cem\u003eA.D. Hope\u003c\/em\u003e and of Brooks alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46797540688108,"sku":"9780994429636","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/747a4f0e4f8e3e2236a92644f9526359.jpg?v=1771210545"},{"product_id":"animal-dreams-by-david-brooks-9781743327470","title":"Animal Dreams","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnimal Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e collects David Brooks' thought-provoking essays about how humans think, dream, and write about other species. Brooks examines how animals have featured in Australian literature and culture, from \u003ci\u003eThe Man from Snowy River\u003c\/i\u003e to Phar Lap, to contemporary debates about horse-racing, live animal exports, veganism, and the culling of native species such as kangaroos and sharks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn his piercing, elegant, widely celebrated style, he considers how private and public conversations about animals reflect older and deeper attitudes to our own and other species, and what questions we might ask to move these conversations forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor readers interested in animal welfare, conservation, and the relationship between humans and other species, \u003ci\u003eAnimal Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e will be an essential, richly rewarding companion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46830093631724,"sku":"9781743327470","price":71.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/19176383482808.jpg?v=1758272937"},{"product_id":"the-grass-library-by-david-brooks-9780648202646","title":"The Grass Library","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA philosophical and poetic journey recounting the author's relationship with his four sheep and other animals in his home in the Blue Mountains. Both memoir and eloquent testament to animal rights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘One of the most beautifully written books about animals I have ever read. I know of nothing else like it published in this or any other country. Deep, sensitive, charming, instructive and above all, humble. I cannot imagine anyone reading it without coming away in some profound sense altered.’ – Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of \u003ci\u003eWhen Elephants Weep\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘…a gorgeous book. Anyone who loves animals will be enchanted…but it's a book that will challenge your thinking as well…highly recommended.’ – \u003ci\u003eANZ LitLovers LitBlog\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Grass Library\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e traces the author's tree-change, from inner-Sydney Professor of Australian Literature to his current existence in the upper Blue Mountains: born-again vegan; carer of rescue animals. Paralleling this geographical transition is an ideological one: an attempt to untether himself from conventional ways of thinking about and relating to non-human animals. \u003ci\u003eThe Grass Library\u003c\/i\u003e captures the deft meanderings, sideways movements and unexpected leaps of [Brooks'] mind. \u003cstrong\u003e- \u003ci\u003ePlumwood Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46846296293612,"sku":"9780648202646","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21386243482418.jpg?v=1758907213"},{"product_id":"open-house-by-david-brooks-9780702253522","title":"Open House","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA poem is a place where you can bring things together, you don't have to know why. The mad and the bad, the gentle and the dead, tooth-ache and heart-ache and the ache and quandary of history. We are all creatures trembling under the sun of witness (or is it rain?); some of us, for reasons it would be hard to explain, trying to catch the strange, sad music of it, on the days we can hear it, before it disappears again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOpening the house of his life and extending naturally the striking love poetry of his last volume, \u003cem\u003eThe Balcony\u003c\/em\u003e, Brooks' arrestingly confessional poems range in scale from observations of the smallest creatures underfoot - stepped over, left in peace - to acknowledgements both of the smallness of human endeavour and the catastrophic effects of our custodianship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVital in all senses, these are poems through which to view the world afresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eThe Balcony\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"An electric performance.\" - Sydney Morning Herald\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"If the reader seek poetry of great dignity, tenderness, humility, playfulness and devotion, they will find it in this rare and intimate work.\" - Cordite\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47340996788460,"sku":"9780702253522","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/179203482438.jpg?v=1772179749"},{"product_id":"is-capitalism-broken-by-yanis-varoufakis-9781786079176","title":"Is Capitalism Broken?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe need to organise politically to defend the weak, empower the many and prepare the ground for reversing the absurdities of capitalism.\u003c\/em\u003e — Yanis Varoufakis\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCapitalism over the past twenty-five years has been an incredible moral good.\u003c\/em\u003e — David Brooks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a growing belief that the capitalist system no longer works. Inequality is rampant. The environment is being destroyed for profits. In some western nations, life expectancy is even falling. Political power is wielded by wealthy elites and big business, not the people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut for proponents of capitalism, it is the engine of progress, not just making all of us materially better off, but helping to address everything from women's rights to political freedoms. 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The author of \u003cem\u003eThe Road to Character\u003c\/em\u003e explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—\u003cem\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery so often, you meet people who radiate joy—who seem to know why they were put on this earth, who glow with a kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed what we might think of as a two-mountain shape. They get out of school, they start a career, and they begin climbing the mountain they thought they were meant to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view... unsatisfying. They realise: This wasn’t \u003cem\u003emy\u003c\/em\u003e mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually \u003cem\u003emy\u003c\/em\u003e mountain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so they embark on a new journey. On the second mountain, life moves from self-centered to other-centered. They want the things that are truly worth wanting, not the things other people tell them to want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not independence. They surrender to a life of commitment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Second Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e, David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfilment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, this book is meant to help us all lead more meaningful lives. But it’s also a provocative social commentary. We live in a society, Brooks argues, that celebrates freedom, that tells us to be true to ourselves, at the expense of surrendering to a cause, rooting ourselves in a neighbourhood, binding ourselves to others by social solidarity and love. We have taken individualism to the extreme—and in the process we have torn the social fabric in a thousand different ways. The path to repair is through making deeper commitments. In \u003cem\u003eThe Second Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e, Brooks shows what can happen when we put commitment-making at the centre of our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47398058950892,"sku":"9780812983425","price":57.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12132423482477.jpg?v=1773739481"},{"product_id":"the-balcony-by-david-brooks-9780702236693","title":"The Balcony","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Balcony\u003c\/em\u003e is a stunning collection by one of Australia's quiet masters of poetry. Robert Adamson said of Brooks' previous collection, \u003cem\u003eUrban Elegies\u003c\/em\u003e, that it contained some of \"the best and most uplifting poetry that I have experienced in years\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Balcony\u003c\/em\u003e is a volume of one hundred love poems in the tradition of Pablo Neruda's \u003cem\u003eThe Captain's Verses\u003c\/em\u003e or Jacques Prévert's \u003cem\u003eParoles\u003c\/em\u003e, but on closer acquaintance becomes so much more. This poetry is by turns erotic, visceral, political, satirical, philosophical and confessional—often all of these at the same time—and is always deeply and unabashedly sensual and lyrical.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a manner that has led early readers, pre-publication, to suggest that it marks the arrival of a powerful new style in this country's writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47428200890604,"sku":"9780702236693","price":31.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780702236693.jpg?v=1774766966"},{"product_id":"the-social-animal-by-david-brooks-9781780720371","title":"The Social Animal","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Brooks weaves a vast array of new research into the lives of two fictional characters, revealing a fundamental new understanding of human nature. He outlines a new definition of success, highlighting what economists call non-cognitive skills—those hidden qualities that can't be easily measured but which lead to happiness and fulfilment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47600371466476,"sku":"9781780720371","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781780720371-the-social-animal.jpg?v=1777987983"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/david-brooks.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}